Delayed Gratification
I mostly back products at the digital level, or as a straight donation. Mostly. When I don’t, I back for the swag. On more than one occasion where miniatures are concerned I have been known to pledge more than is reasonable to theoretically secure some awesome swag that might someday belong to me.
In this whole process (I reached 101 projects backed near the beginning of the week) it never occurred to me that I might, you know – move. I was pretty happy with where I was, but recently an opportunity forced itself on me that requires me to move. Moving means changing the shipping address on the 19 projects outstanding with physical rewards.
So after I lost an hour or two of my life navigating a dozen different backer survey formats I got to thinking about Kickstarter and how it relates to me. Keep reading if you’re interested.
I can sum it up in one word – Satiety. Satiety is the 1) the quality or state of being fed or gratified to or beyond capacity : surfeit, fullness 2)the revulsion or disgust caused by overindulgence or excess. To a lesser or greater degree, I think both definitions apply.
When one goes shopping (Kickstarter is not a store) one comes back with a toy to keep them occupied. They don’t need (hopefully) to go shopping again for entertainment for a while because they have a game/movie/book/toy to keep them busy. Kickstarter doesn’t work like that – it’s more like movie previews, or Chinese food; you pay the bill and then after just a little while you want more.
Well, someday those widgets will start to arrive. Some would say that this will only enhance the credibility of the Kickstarting process. That is a very reasonable opinion. At least in my case though, I think it will have the opposite effect. I think that once my swag starts to show up at my door in a materialistic conga line 10 months long I am going to be much less likely to pledge big on new projects. Sure, I might put a few bucks toward a project I really like, but as a rule, I expect I will be pretty tapped out.
In the next couple weeks Reaper will finally send me my miniature motherlode. Measured in the hundreds, this embarrassment of riches will take up a ridiculous amount of time just to unbox and sort. Painting it is an undertaking measured generously in years. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad I backed the project, but it will certainly make me look twice before backing another on that scale.
“Don’t eat till you’re full – eat till you’re sick” is a saying my father picked up somewhere; it shows up most Thanksgivings, and has become an enduring part of the holiday experience. Though I didn’t know it at the time, I have a strong feeling that I may have already done that, metaphorically speaking.
Any of this resonating with the rest of you?
Caffeineforge 
What I’m finding is that the games have started arriving, but I’m playing OTHER games that I’ve bought in the meantime. So they’re mostly just sitting there, unwrapped, but unplayed. I think “Channel A” might get played tonight, and I’m cautiously hopeful about that one, but we’ll have to see.
On the other hand, when Zombicide 2 comes out, I’m playing the hell out of that one.